A Literary Analysis of the Novel The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Decent into Madness: A Character Analysis of The Sound and the Fury “Life’s… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Shakespeare lines 24-28). This quote inspired the title for William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury. In this narrative, Faulkner brilliantly uses the Stream-of- Consciousness style to tell a story centered on the decay of a Southern family, a recurring theme among his works. Critics and readers alike refer to this novel as the turning point in Faulkner’s career, though many readers shy away from reading it due to its complexity.

The basis of its complexity is in the technique Faulkner chooses to narrate the novel with; some say it is ingenious, while others say it is distracting. Told from the point of view of three different characters, facts, time and memories are often jumbled and thrown together to create the underlying intensity of The Sound and the Fury (Scott 27).

The core of this intensity lies in the narrators, first Benjy, then Quentin, followed by Jason, and finally with Faulkner himself telling his side of the story.

Faulkner claimed that the novel was born out of the characters, as he first thought of Caddy Compson, a beautiful young daughter, followed by “the idiot . . . and then I became interested in the relationship of the idiot to the world. . .Then it [the novel] needs the protagonist, someone to tell the story, so Quentin appeared… then the brother, Jason . . .” (qtd. in Parini). William Faulkner has achieved true magnificence in his novel, ultimately centered around and told through the language of the characters.

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Although it is not a commonly considered topic, this reader finds it interesting to explore the reason why Faulkner chose the narrators that he did. Obviously Benjy, the imbecile, opening the novel with his ramblings and burblings is key, as it grabs the reader’s attention and throws all expectation of normalcy out the window. Jason, the third narrator, is also interesting to examine, although one may agree that William Faulkner’s intent in using him as a narrator was purely to highlight his theme of insanity.

Jason is considered “pure evil… a vicious antagonist” to the novel, and by his narration of the events, the reader is eerily and sometimes uncomfortably forced to identify with this maddening individual (Parini 114). Perhaps the most interesting to examine are the characters that Faulkner did not allow to recall their versions of events, specifically Caddy, the key character the book is centered around. Faulkner once said concerning her “Caddy was still to me too beautiful and too moving to reduce her to telling what was going on… it would be more passionate to see her through somebody else’s eyes” (qtd. in Parini). This may tie into another aspect of Faulkner’s work, his interesting portrayal of and appreciation for women.

The most important aspect of The Sound and the Fury is with Benjy, the idiot inspired by Shakespeare’s quote, opening the novel. He is an utterly incompetent fellow who one neighbor remarks that he has been three for thirty years, referring to his very childish mental state (Faulkner). In Benjy’s world, sounds, smells, thoughts, time, and memories are all combined and muddled into one reality. The reader must wade through this jumbled narration to search for clues that point toward the actual story line.

This perplexing introduction is what scares many readers off from engrossing themselves in the novel. Despite or perhaps because of this complexity, Benjy is believed by most critics to be the only character able to effectively narrate the events of the Compson family. Irving Howe once illustrated this point by claiming “Benjy does not act or talk or reflect; his only function is to lead directly and without comment into the past. . . to ‘identify’ with Benjy is, therefore to yield oneself to the Compson experience” (159).

According to this take on Benjy, other narrators, including Jason and Quentin, would prove to be less effective narrators, as their own emotions and thoughts would distort the events of the story, even though it may be easier for readers to comprehend. Furthermore, many claim that almost all events in The Sound and the Fury are foreshadowed by Benjy (Yust 11).

One key element of Benjy’s narration is that he tends to live in the past, with images of Caddy and nature recurring throughout his thoughts. This emphasizes the terrible condition of the Compson family and its rapid, sometimes even graphic decay, as Benjy would rather go inside his own head than deal with the problems of the family.

In Benjy’s world, though it is far from perfect, he is able to create characters or objects that have pleasing memories associated with them, and they accompany him throughout almost his entire life. Caddy, for example, is almost always with Benjy, whether it is in some memory that he is bringing from the past, or in the smell of trees (honeysuckle) that he associates with his beloved sister (Faulkner). This bringing back of memories makes the breakdown of the family seem less real to Benjy, though he has very little interactions with the other characters.

Although The Sound and the Fury can be and often is a very cruel, horrific book, there are several ironies associated with Benjy’s portion. First and foremost, he seems to be the only sane character remaining at the novel’s close. The possible point of humor or irony here is, where the character who the reader would traditionally believe to be the first one to go mad, or even to be mad from the start, is the only individual who remains relatively unchanged throughout the decay of the Compson family.

An additional point of irony is Benjy’s ability to sense when something is wrong, such as Quentin’s suicide and Caddy’s loss of virginity. No other character, as far as the readers are aware of, has this sort of sixth sense when it comes to people. As Julia Baker once said, “There is something terrifically effective in the way Benjy smells death; he smelled it when his grandmother died, he smelled it when his father died” (23).

Additionally, he seems to be the only character that truly recognizes the fall of the Compson family, but he is unable to do anything but moan, his traditional response when something is bothering him. Whether the reader chooses to believe these details as intentionally humorous or just pure coincidence is up to them, but the fact remains that Benjy, the moron who can hardly interact with the other members of the family, has a sensitive spot for people that no other characters possess.

Quentin Compson, the oldest brother of the family, is the second narrator of the novel. With many references to Hamlet in the novel, some critics such as Howe believe that he may be intended by Faulkner to be a modern Hamlet figure (170). As the family’s beacon of hope, Quentin is relied upon by the rest of the Compsons to be the one child that accomplishes something significant in the family, and therefore they sell Benjy’s pasture to raise money to send Quentin to Harvard. Readers follow Quentin in one day at Harvard, and discover that, though the family had high hopes for Quentin, his collapse with the rest of the Compsons turns out to be inevitable.

Returning to the idea of the effectiveness of the narrators, compared to Benjy, Quentin is “imprisoned in his own consciousness, and cannot hold the past with the purity Benjy can” (Howe 161). Quentin, unlike Benjy, can interact with other characters and reflect upon the events of the story. He does not confuse time and memory, and though he does experience frequent flashbacks, these are easier to pick out, as they are in italicized text, and they contain more important internal issues, such as guilt, rather than just sensory information.

The only challenge presented in reading Quentin’s narration is that he struggles with acting on ideas, so he will play out situations in his head, and it is sometimes difficult for the reader to determine whether an action that Quentin described is actually taking place, or just happening in his mind.

One key reason for this inevitable breakdown is Quentin’s oversensitivity to his sister’s virginity. “Hearkening back to antebellum views of honor, Southern womanhood, and virginity, Quentin cannot accept his sister’s growing sexuality” (Cape and Smith, par. 7). This quote references a number of things, primarily the allusion to traditional southern views (a common theme amongst almost all of William Faulkner’s works). This decay of Christian values reflects the crisis of the South at the time after the Civil War (Howe 168).

Due to Caddy taking the role of his mother early on in his life, Quentin confuses feelings of affection and the desire for a motherly figure with sexual feelings, which he views as wrong and a disgrace to the family. This view of Caddy carries over into a distorted view of all women, and all feelings of affection toward other women (as well as men) are translated to sexual desires, which agonizes him and his morals (Parini 119). This agony goes back to Quentin feeling like he is the only one that truly believes in the upholding of the morality of the old, traditional South.

Quentin is in denial of what he views as the loss of his sister to her deflowering and disgrace done to her by other men. He turns to his father in search of consolation, only to find out that his father believes that virginity is a thing invented by men, and doesn’t believe in upholding the traditional values of the South. In his confusion, he tries telling his father that he committed incest with Caddy. Somehow in his mind, if someone believed that she had sexual relations with her own brother, it would undo her loss of virginity to another man (Parini 119). Unfortunately for Quentin, but nevertheless rightfully so, his father does not believe his story, and Quentin must deal with the fact that his precious Caddy is no longer a virgin, which slowly drives him into madness.

Once Quentin has learned of Caddy’s promiscuity, a very symbolic scene takes place where he breaks his grandfather’s watch, which was handed down to him from his father. When his father gave Quentin the watch, he told him “time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life” (Faulkner 2.53). Somehow Quentin took this to believe that if he destroys the watch, time will stop, and he can change the past, notably Caddy’s sexual relations. Everything in Quentin’s world reminds him of time and time passing, and the only way he sees to escape it in the end is to drown himself in a lake.

The third narrator is Jason Compson; and, as Faulkner said “Jason (who to me represented complete evil. He’s the most vicious character in my opinion I ever thought of)” (qtd. in Parini). In Jason’s narrative, some confusing events from the first two narratives are resolved, such as the fact that Quentin committed suicide and that Caddy’s daughter Quentin came to live with the Compson family (Cape and Smith par. 5).

Even though it is perhaps the easiest section to read, readers may be frustrated by the fact that, because it is easy to read, they are forced to identify with this character that is pure evil. In this section, one gains the clearest details from the character that they despise the most, and often times this can be quite bothersome. There is no doubt that Faulkner placed Jason’s narrative right after Quentin’s in order to strengthen the contrast between the two personalities, as Quentin is quiet and innocent, and Jason is constantly cruel to others and scheming.

Faulkner makes it clear that Jason was evil from the start of his childhood, where he told on others, symbolizing his loathing for long-term relationships. At the end of the novel, Jason becomes the head of the family after Mr. Compson dies. This is yet another indication of how low the Compson family has sunk in contrast to what they used to be. Jason also constantly lies, steals from his mother, and very openly loathes Caddy.

As literary critic Frances Lamont Robbins said “we see him, half mad, pull the shred of his own life to pieces in his effort to destroy her” (268). This is a powerful and very meaningful quote, as it represents a multitude of things. Primarily it illustrates yet again the extent of Jason’s malice, and how he is willing to devastate his own life just to endanger his own niece. His hatred of Quentin could perhaps be traced back to his maddening jealousy of Caddy, Quentin’s mother. Yet another example illustrating Jason’s pure evil is the when he steals a strongbox for no particular reason other than to have one (Faulkner).

Obsession is a recurring theme in The Sound and the Fury, and each character has their own obsession that drives them to madness. Like Quentin and Benjy, Jason is obsessed with Caddy, but not in the same sense of either of his brothers. He is obsessed with the money he sent to her, and the fact that she is sending money back to her daughter Quentin, not to him.

In addition to this obsession, another factor driving Jason to complete madness is the disgrace which the Quentin has brought upon them all (Saxon 3). Jason feels that as the new head of the household, any disgrace to his family is a direct disgrace to him, and Caddy and her daughter are both a disgrace in his eyes. At the end of the novel, Jason symbolically takes the out of control reins from a horse and carriage that Benjy is riding in. Benjy is content with his life again, but Jason remains unsure and his control of the reins, symbolizing his hold on life, remains fragile and temporary (Parini 125).

As previously mentioned, Caddy Compson was the inspiration for the entire novel The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner once said on Caddy “So I, who had never had a sister and was fated to lose my daughter in infancy, set out to make myself a beautiful and tragic little girl” (qtd. in Parini). Caddy is indeed clearly intended to be the beautiful, loving daughter, who takes on the roll of mother to Quentin and Benjy, as their own mother is selfishly obsessed with her own health and constantly faking illnesses. As the object of all her brothers’ desires, Caddy is believed by the reader to be perfect, which only heightens the irony when they find out that she ends up as an exile, no doubt a prostitute (Martin 6).

Though this irony may be twisted and shocking, it even further emphasizes the point of the complete and total decay of the Compson family. Caddy is the only member of the family who manages to escape the decay of the town, and even though she returned with her daughter, Quentin, escaping this horrific area is a notable achievement that no other Compsons were able to accomplish.

Accentuating this irony is the fact that Caddy, not her brother Quentin, ended up being the most “successful” member of the family, if one can call where she ended up as a success. Quentin was the family’s beacon of hope, and they gave up all their money to send him to Harvard, where he ultimately met the same fate as the rest of the Compsons, descending into madness. That is not to say that Caddy did not go mad, however, the fact remains that she is considered the most successful living member of the Compson family.

The final section, narrated by Faulkner himself, is widely considered by most critics to be “Dilsey’s section,” although Jason, Benjy, and other characters remain prominent as well (Parini 122). Dilsey, the Compson’s servant, is a source of many points of satire in the novel. Set in a time period after the Civil War when blacks were not yet fully regarded as equals to whites, especially in the south, Dilsey and the other “darkies” (as referred to by the people of Yoknapatawpha) at church present a closer and more spirit-filled community than the Compson family, which emphasized isolation and self- centeredness (Parini 124).

Dilsey is the only one that actually cares for the Compson children throughout the entire novel, and many of her basic morals, values, and principles are the same as the Compson family’s. It is possible that Dilsey and her children represent one of the many underlying themes of Faulkner’s work that relates to the black slaves of the time being truly a part of the family that they worked for. Dilsey once said to her son “you got jes es much Compson devilment in you es any of ’em.” This refers to the fact that, like the Compsons, Dilsey’s children are human, but not less human than any of the rest (Baker 23).

Dilsey also represents the single source of stability in the Compson family’s life, and Faulkner has her cleverly say “I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin” (4.282). While she is referring literally to a religious revelation, this cleverly alludes to the fact that Dilsey has been with the Compson family from when they were once a great power, to their decay and decline at the end of the novel.

Readers get the feeling that Dilsey, with her children and grandchildren, are a possible new version of the Compson family, with their morals of the traditional Southern family being the same, but the flaws in their characters not being as prominent, such as their selflessness and willingness to contribute to the community. This could, ultimately, lead to a black family upholding the morals of the traditional South, which would be arguably satirical, but either way a very clever ploy on Faulkner’s part.

Indeed, The Sound and the Fury is in fact simply an in depth description of how each character in the novel is driven into madness, emphasized by its Stream-of- Consciousness narration. This narration gives readers an enormously effective insight into the characters’ minds, however jumbled and indistinguishable their thoughts may be at times.

Though the novel is full of malice, contains rather graphic images portrayed bluntly in characters’ minds, and even includes portions that are just plain disturbing, when readers are forced to identify and uncover the truth behind the characters in The Sound and the Fury, only when the reader identifies with the characters does it become truly horrific, traumatizing, and shocking. However in a strange way, it becomes a part of the reader. Orgill Mackenzie spoke for many readers when he claimed about The Sound and the Fury “It is a book which should be read more than once; and yet I hesitate to read it again” (365).